I'm left handed and left eye dominant. I'm not at all interested in anything other than a left hand rifle.
That out of the way, I'm interested in putting together a lefty bolt gun that has qualities that would mimic the quality and reliability of a right hand rifle that would be used by military.
Obviously the Remington 700 has been there and done that, right? The problem is the last several years of abysmal quality control.
I currently have a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55, and a Savage 110 in .260 Rem. Lastly I have a K31 in 7.5 Swiss (obviously) with a pretty rare Swiss left hand conversion.
I LOVE the Tikka, but the liberal use of plastics makes me concerned. The Savage is OK. I built it years ago. It's had several instances where it didn't want to feed very smoothly, and I've had to "stutter" the bolt to get it in battery, I've read this is fairly common with them. The Swiss K31 is neat, but the cartridge is difficult to obtain, and I do reload. Parts aren't exactly abundant.
I would like to stay with something short action, .308 or otherwise.
Is there something that is somewhat affordable (sub $1500) that would fit that description?
I have no fantasies about being a sniper or anything like that. Just wanting a rugged and dependable bolt gun with the least amount of MIM/cast/polymer parts.
Any thoughts?